What has happened to my London? The golden peak of "The Monument," and the steeple of a Wren Church lost amongst vertical acres of steel girder, concrete, glass and plastic. The City from London Bridge, over the River Thames.

Scotland by NJC.
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What has happened to my London? The golden peak of
What has happened to my London? The golden peak of "The Monument," and the steeple of a Wren Church lost amongst vertical acres of steel girder, concrete, glass and plastic. The City from London Bridge, over the River Thames.

Commentary.

It is not too often I visit the U. K’s capital city,
but then I’ve been doing so for nigh on 60 years.
My first visit was when I was a mere 8 years of age when I visited the London Palladium.
As a child I got used to a largely 2-5 storey London.
Buckingham Palace, The Tower of London, Madame Tussauds,
the Planetarium, Greenwich Observatory, Trafalgar Square,
the Old Curiosity Shop and many other such places.
Between the ages of 6 and 30 I lived mostly in South London
and Surrey, including Morden, Sutton, Epsom and Banstead.
Often, myself and friends, even at 8-12, we would cycle or take a Green Line bus to the countryside.
Alternatively, we would buy a Red Bus Rover ticket from Morden Station and go up to London.
We didn’t know where we were going, but following maps we worked out basic directions, and headed off.
We got “mislaid” but rarely “lost.”
I became familiar with a different London, one in which you could count the number of tower blocks on the fingers of one hand.
As a teacher I took School Parties to London to see
most of the places mentioned previously-
the Tower of London and Houses of Parliament, to mention but two.
I will admit I am not a fan of “pile of boxes” skyscrapers.
Sterile, functional monoliths of concrete, glass and steel girders.
With the internet and e-mails C.B.D’s are not really necessary
with their extortionate ground rents and wildly expensive accompanying shops.
Every town could have a HQ in a modest building, providing local employment and services in many places that need investment.
So what do we get…..10 C.B.D’s in London, the most recent at Lambeth/Nine Elms!
“The Monument” in what was Pudding Lane is now virtually invisible, dwarfed by several recent skyscrapers.
The same applies to Wren’s masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral.
However, I will always love London.
There is so much history, culture and places of interest, going back 2,000 years.
It will always rank in the top 5 Global cities and is clearly my own number 1.

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Taken on: April 19, 2022
Sets appears in:   • UK Premier Selection   
Groups appears in:   • United Kingdom    • Great Britain    more » • The Flikr Group    • English Landscape    • Pictures Of England    • South East England    • Canon DSLR users UK    • English Landscapes    • This Is England    • Canon DSLR    • British Cities    • Days out and about    • Images Of England    • Thames Valley    • City Landmark    • Landmarks in the UK    • Scenes from the British Isles    • this_is_England    • fortified villages , towns and cities of britain    • Canon SLR Photography    • Digital SLR Life    • LONDON LONDON LONDON    • BRIDGES (UK & IRELAND ONLY)    • British Landscapes    • (A) WORLD HERITAGE TRAIL    « less
Camera: Canon EOS 5DS R, f/9.0, 1/640 sec, 53mm, ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Canon EOS 5DS R
Lens: EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM
Aperture: f/9.0
Exposure Time: 0.002 sec (1/640)
Focal Length: 53mm
ISO: 400
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash
Exposure Program: Program AE
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Color Space: sRGB
Software: Adobe Lightroom 7.1.2 (Windows)
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